Come on, Durians are not THAT disgusting, am I right Malaysians?
The global community has long had a beef with our beloved king of fruits, the Durian. With a smell so bad yet so good, the Durian is continuously highlighted in both a positive and negative limelight.
Most recently, NST reported that the thorny fruit made an appearance at Sweden’s Digusting Food Museum, next to other gross items like dead mouse in Chinese wine, maggots in cheese and Icelandic fermented shark. Ew.
Of course, as Malaysians, we’re not too amused by the durian making the list. Sedap kot, durian!
Source: Independent
This museum has opened its doors in Malmo, where it exhibits 80 of the world’s most disgusting foods. The unusual attraction gives curious visitors an opportunity to smell and taste the world’s most notorious foods, ranging from bull penis to Surströmming, which is fermented herring from Sweden.
Other equally revolting items that made it to the list are:
- Cuy – roasted guinea pigs from Peru
- Casu marzu – maggot-infested cheese from Sardinia
- Stinky tofu – pungent bean curd from China
- Hákarl – well-aged shark from Iceland
Source: Facebook
If you’re wondering what’s the purpose of all this, you’d be glad to know that the museum actually aims to “challenge perceptions of taste” and thus, “help visitors contemplate why one culture’s abomination is another’s delicacy”.
Well then, with entrants featuring the world’s stinkiest cheese to sweets made of metal cleansing chemicals, we are ever so proud to say that the Durian is on par with all of them.
So celebrated is the Durian that the fruit itself is even given an outdoor tasting session alongside Surströmming and Icelandic shark.
Baby mice are brewed in rice wine | Source: NST
According to its curator, Samuel West, there were two instances where gag reflexes failed the visitors due to the overwhelming smells and taste.
“Has anyone thrown up here at the museum? Yes twice.”
“It’s okay to vomit because our entry tickets are not really tickets – they’re printed on vomit bags.”
According to the Disgusting Food Museum’s website, the evolutionary function of disgust is also there to help human beings avoid disease and unsafe food.
Source: NY Times
Naming disgust as one of six fundamental human emotions, West says it is understandable that despite finding some foods disgusting, it is indeed safe for consumption.
With the aim of educating the public of what is edible and what isn’t, it is time we too broaden our horizon and take a leap into the unknown – if you dare, that is!
Also read: Malaysia-Born Lawrence Wong Bags An International Film Award in New York!
